French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has announced plans to invest at least $20 billion in its U.S. operations through 2030, growing investments in science and expanding domestic manufacturing.
“The expected investment includes a significant increase in research and development spending and the allocation of billions of dollars to U.S. manufacturing,” according to Sanofi, which noted that the announcement comes as the company “prepares for the potential launch of numerous new first- or best-in-class medicines across many indications in the coming years.”
Sanofi said it intends to expand its U.S. manufacturing capacity through direct investments in its production sites and partnerships with other domestic manufacturers. CEO Paul Hudson in a statement said Sanofi’s expected investments “will be substantial and will help ensure the production of key medicines in the U.S.”
Sanofi’s investment in its U.S. operations follows similar announcements recently by other Big Pharma companies, including AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Roche, and Takeda.
President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals in an effort to incentivize drugmakers to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. However, in an earnings call last month, Sanofi CFO François-Xavier Roger told analysts he couldn’t comment on potential tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
“At this stage, we have no specifics to share regarding U.S. tariffs,” Roger said. “It’s difficult to comment on the occurrence of possible future events that are still unknown or speculative at this stage. So, there is no certainty beyond what has been announced and [what] has been announced so far has been fully included in our confirmed guidance for the full year 2025.”
At the same time, Roger noted that when it comes to Sanofi’s production footprint, the company “has been even prior to the discussions about tariffs” actively increasing its share of manufacturing in the U.S. and specifically biologic drug substance.
“We continue to assess our future capacity requirements, and we are considering additional measures potentially including investment in the U.S., aligning our industrial footprint to the needs of our pipeline and to our expected future growth,” he said, as the company has done recently in other geographies such as Asia.
In December 2024, Sanofi announced plans to invest more than $1 billion in a new production base in Beijing, making it the company’s largest single investment in China. The facility will focus on expanding end-to-end insulin production, aiming to address the needs of China’s growing diabetic population.